PALESTINE campaigners praised French multinational Veolia yesterday after the company ditched its last contracts in Israel.

The outsourcing company is one of many being targeted by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) for its role in illegal settler projects on the West Bank and in Jerusalem.

Veolia has now sold its 5 per cent stake in Jerusalem Light Rail firm CityPass, marking the final step in its slow withdrawal.

PSC campaigns officer Rachel Diamond said: “This is a huge victory for solidarity with Palestine and the BDS movement and sends a clear message to other companies — doing business with Israel risks your reputation and profit.

“The campaign against Veolia notched up major successes, with Veolia losing major contracts.

“The pressure from campaigns like ours was too much and today they announced they’re selling the Light Rail shares too.

That means Veolia has completely withdrawn from Israeli apartheid — exactly what our campaign wanted them to do.”